Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 304

They were right in a sense. Blistering Cheetah was indeed unaware of what he said. But his words came from a memory. A memory he was currently reliving.

“What do you know about Savior?” the Oracle, a dark skinned pretty middle aged woman asked a young Blistering Cheetah.

“It was made by some Scientists after they experimented with the blood of several Magical Beasts,” said the young Blistering Cheetah.

“That is not true,” the Oracle shook her head after listening to his words. The young Blistering Cheetah was confused. Then what was the truth. Luckily for him, the Oracle gave an answer even before he could ask.

“They didn’t experiment on Magical Beasts. They experimented on people”

“What!” Blistering Cheetah didn’t see that coming. If they did, why was it revealed that they experimented on Magical Beasts?

“During that time, humans were weak. We didn’t have the strength to go against Magical Beasts, let alone capture some. It’s laughable that we believed such a lie all these years.”

Blistering Cheetah blushed listening to her words. After all, he also believed that that was indeed the case.

“Humans survived the threat of Magical Beasts because of a race of humans called the Ancients” the Oracle didn’t care about his reaction. She was eager to continue her story.

“The Ancients?” Blistering Cheetah marveled at the race he was only hearing about for the first time.

“Yes, the Ancients. They were a peculiar race. They were born with special abilities. Some of these abilities were hidden in some. For others, these abilities were present from birth. The Ancients were strong. They used their power to help mankind fight against the Magical Beasts. But the human heart is complex and conniving. People were jealous of the power of Ancients, and some despicable ones abducted some of the newborns of the Ancients and experimented with them”

Blistering Cheetah felt his blood run cold at the words of the Oracle. It was amazing enough that there was a race that didn’t need any potion to become strong, but it was her words about experimenting on newborns that terrified him.

“How could they do something like that?” he asked.

“It wasn’t strange. They had no power to go against the a.d.u.l.ts, so the babies were their best bet.” The Oracle waved her hand nonchalantly. She didn’t seem particularly bothered by it.

“That was how Savior was developed. It was made using the blood of Ancients. They were babies, but they were still Ancients. So their blood worked just fine. But few could withstand the power of their bloodline. A diluted version was made, which was the New Type Potion. But later on it was discovered that the New Type Potion could also be made using some herbs, so their blood was no longer necessary. However this information came long after the Ancients discovered the schemes of the humans and killed off those who orc.h.e.s.trated the entire event. They have been missing since”

The Oracle laid b.a.r.e the secrets of the world. And Blistering Cheetah was stunned for a while. It turned out that everything was a lie. It wasn’t greedy people who killed the scientists. The scientists were the despicable ones. And Magical Beasts had nothing to do with either potion. Everything was a lie.

“Where are the Ancients now?” he asked

“They went into hiding,” the Oracle answered.

“So how do you know this?”

The story was fascinating and all, but it wasn’t that easy to believe all this.

“Because I am an Ancient,” the Oracle had a large smile plastered on her face as she revealed the truth. Blistering Cheetah was stunned once again, even longer than he was before.

“All Oracles are Ancients. How else do you think we have our power? The power of foresight isn’t something that can be gained from a potion.”

The Oracle lightly rapped on Blistering Cheetah’s head to regain his attention.

“All of us Ancients have one defining factor. We have darker skin and amazing talent. There are people in this world that have darker skin too, so it isn’t easy to find an Ancient, but that is the best way to look for us.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Blistering Cheetah took several deep breaths and asked. Why did she choose to tell him? Was she not afraid that he would tell another?

“If you tell anyone else, would they believe you?” The Oracle had a playful smile on her face as she questioned.

“I guess not,” Blistering Cheetah smiled bitterly seeing that his thoughts had been seen through. The Oracle was right. There was no way anyone would accept his words as truth.

“As for why, it is because the greatest Ancient to have ever been born is your friend,” the Oracle stated.

“My friend? But I don’t have any friend who…” Blistering Cheetah suddenly stopped talking.

“You realise it now right?” the Oracle smirked playfully

“Dan,” Blistering Cheetah mumbled. He was the only dark skinned person he knew. Plus his talent was amazing.

“Yes. His talent is suppressed because that idiot gave him a New Type Potion. It’s like trying to strengthen an original product with a fake.”

The Oracle spat out hatefully. Blistering Cheetah smiled wryly. He knew who this ‘idiot’ was. Village Head Fan had presented a New Type Potion to Dan because he was very talented. But now that the Oracle mentioned it, Dan’s rate of improvement did reduce drastically after taking the potion. But since he was still so talented, many didn’t think much about it. It seemed that the clueless Village Head had done something silly. And that was why the Oracle called him an idiot.

“Why didn’t you just tell him?” Blistering Cheetah was confused. She could have just told Village Head Fan so that he wouldn’t make the mistake of unknowingly suppressing Dan’s talent. She definitely had no qualms about revealing this secret. After all, she was telling it to him right now.

“It’s complicated,” she sighed. It was the first time Blistering Cheetah saw a complex look on her face. But it was quickly wiped away. He was curious as to what the complication she referred to was, but if she wanted to tell him, she would have done so instead of blaming things on a ‘complication’.

“As for telling you, it’s because I have to go away. I don’t know if I’d ever make it back alive, so I had to entrust this to someone so that when Dan is ready, he would be told.”

“Where are you going,” Blistering Cheetah wondered. What could be so bad that even an Oracle wasn’t assured of keeping her life?

“I cannot say,” she shook her head, which wasn’t a huge surprise to Blistering Cheetah. To be honest, he wasn’t expecting an answer. She had only told him what she wanted him to know, she wasn’t going to feed him anything more than that.

“I’m confused though. Why didn’t you just tell Dan about who he is, instead of feeding him that nonsense about him not being good enough to be a Tiger?”

The Oracle had proclaimed Dan a Cheetah. Wandering Cheetah was the title she gave him. But listening to her words, Blistering Cheetah knew that what she told him was nothing but a lie. How could the most talented Ancient ever to be born be a ‘measly’ Cheetah? Sure Cheetahs were awesome. But even with his talent suppressed, he should be a Tiger at least.

“Because if I told him, what must happen for his talent to be awakened wouldn’t happen,” the Oracle sighed and shook her head.

“But I would tell you this. A time would come when the Cat would swallow the sun and all would seem bleak. You would be indisposed, incapable of lifting even your head, and darkness would be all you will have as your company. It would be then that he would rise. It would spit out the sun from its belly and the sun would rise into the nonday sky. No matter what happens; no matter how bleak things may seem, you should always remember this: For he remains. He is never gone”

Back on the battlefield, the Resurrection Cat that was watching the Tigers grieve suddenly stood up. It had a look of discomfort on its face as it roared in pain.

*Roar*

“What is it up to,” Village Head Fan said vigilantly, and the others also stood up, ready to fight for their lives. But the beast kept roaring in discomfort. It kept m.o.a.ning in pain. Suddenly, it made several belching noises, and vomited something out of its body.

Its stomach juices melted the floor as soon as they came into contact with it, but there was something in the saliva.

“Is that a rock,” a bewildered Unbound Mongoose wondered.

“No. Look, its moving”

“That’s a man!”

Arthur exclaimed. They were all startled. How could someone survive in that thing’s stomach? The strange man was unrecognizable for he was covered in the green acid from the Cat’s stomach. But slowly his clothes were melted off, leaving only his n.a.k.e.d body.

“Dark skinned,” Domineering Tiger suddenly stated. And the others were all startled. It was true that the man was dark skinned. They could all see that. But the issue was, they knew only one dark skinned man. And it just so happened that that man had been swallowed by the beast!

“But Wandering Cheetah was gravely injured before. Even if that was him, he wouldn’t be fine!” Beastly Tiger made a sound argument, but when the man spoke, they didn’t doubt who that was anymore. When he turned and they saw his face, they didn’t need any convincing.

“Unbound?” Dan smiled as he turned to face his friend. “Do you happen to have any spare clothes?”